An electric floor nozzle of the above described kind has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,167,802. In that floor nozzle a rotatably supported brush roller is arranged in the front area of the nozzle housing, and it is driven by an electric motor in a way that the rotary movement of the motor shaft is transferred to the brush roller via a V-belt. The open underside of the nozzle housing is covered by a cover which is screwed to the nozzle housing. In the area of the brush roller said cover has a slot opening, whereby bristles of the brush roller protrude through the slot opening and can accordingly treat the floor surface to be cleaned.
When floor nozzles are used, it happens relatively often that hairs, lint and the like which are taken up by the brush get caught in the bristles and possibly wind around the roller. This may soon cause not only obstructions by which the suction effect of the vacuum cleaner is reduced considerably, but also a blocking of the roller brush, something that may damage the motor or the driving members. In such a case, the user must screw the bottom plate off the nozzle housing and remove the hair, lint and the like from the suction chamber and/or from the roller. Since the removal of the bottom plate is troublesome, regular maintenance and cleaning work that is actually necessary is done only at large time intervals or only just in those cases when the blocking of the brush roller results in a failure of the floor nozzle, so that appropriate maintenance or cleaning becomes then inevitable. This results in either that the floor nozzle is exposed to excessive wear, or that its capacity is reduced considerably. Another disadvantage resides in that when the bottom plate is opened and closed several times, it may happen that locking members get lost or the respective thread means in the housing are damaged, whereby after a relatively short time of use of the floor nozzle the tightness of the suction chamber is no longer guaranteed and the capacity of the floor nozzle decreases. For construction purposes, the bottom cover must be made relatively rigid because the brush roller bearings are inserted from below and are supported on the cover. Hereby the weight of the floor nozzle is increased. Since the underside of the floor nozzle is exposed to a higher wear, the bottom-sided cover is usually made of metal whilst the floor nozzle is otherwise made of plastics material. However, the use of the separate metal parts involves higher production costs. Generally speaking, the known floor nozzle is uncomfortable in respect of use and maintenance, and on the long run it looses more and more of its capacity.